Pulled out a victory. One that shouldn’t have been close. Some phantom calls but a win is good.
Defense was pretty good. Brownriedge goes for 30 but shoots 32%. Has to make some of their other players mad. We shot okay but they did have a good defensive plan and held us to 72 with several on last minute FTs. Fortunately, we made those FTs.
A win is a win. We had to rely on our guard play again. Only 18 pts from our trio of bigs (Davis, Kaufusi, Austin). Most of those points came from Davis (11). That said, KC plays like a point forward. He had 13 points, all coming from inside the key including free throws. I guess BYU can get by with such a guard heavy offense as long as KC fills the role of point forward. Next year will be different but this year BYU has done a good job of filling in the roles needed to have a pretty effective team. We can win on Monday as long as our guards shoot well. Its nice to have Seljaas back and playing well again (3-6 from 3pt).
I know that they are playing hard but I must admit I am a little disappointed in Davis. He sure misses a lot of bunny hoppers and sometimes is lax on defense. He has had showtime issues during some games this year. If we don’t get people to show up on offense and consistant D, it will be over on Monday. As you have watched the refs in this league, this year, and every year, you know there will be no favors for BYU. Saw some calls today that forshadow for Monday’s game. Remember how many times Haws was mugged and thrown to the floor with a no call last year throughout the season, all season?
Jeff
I didn’t see the mugging. I saw some strange calls but that’s been all year. It’s the level of ability with these refs.
Davis plays well on defense. He does miss some easy shots. I’ve been saying that all years. As a team we miss a lot of layups and FT.
We do have to play better Monday. No question.
One ref was horrible with calls against BYU all game - the other two were ok. It got humorous to watch Brownridge manuever only to frequently get bailed out by the one ref.
With that said, we just aren’t very good. We aren’t very athletic and struggle to score and defend consistently. I will give Seljaas credit as he played well. He just got his mission call and is heading to Iowa. We will be much better next year.
I don’t know about that. The camera angles showed most of the foul calls we right.
We will have to be red hot against Gonzaga if we are going to win Monday.
The finals for this tournament are already set. It is clear from watching the Gonzaga vs. Portland game who is going to the ncaa tournament. It isn’t BYU…
Gonzaga is a lock already and you can pretty much see it from the way the officials are calling this game. Portland isn’t very good but the refs will give them no chance against the Zags. Sabonis is prepping for the nba (with his constant traveling) and that is one of their showcase players, same with Wiltjer. When they flash up the stats that show Gonzaga has made 17 straight ncaa appearances and been in the wcc final 16 straight times, winning the conference 14 out of the last whatever, etc. is there any question how this will play out?
It is time for BYU to start prepping for the NIT.
Gonzaga continues to be the favorite of this conference, no matter how good or average they are.
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If you think the officiating was suspect today, wait till Monday.
Gonzaga will get every advantage, officiating wise, they need. If BYU somehow pulls it out, it will be because Gonzaga can’t take advantage of all the opportunities they will get, combined with the fact that they are a very mediocre team this season, particularly with their guard play.
I predict an emotional breakdown from Rose as the officials frustrate him to no end.
Now, for real serious analysis. No traveling. Portland isn’t playing very smart. And, GU is hot.
Monday, we will win or lose based on our play. Not referees. GU wins every year because they have the best team in the WCC every year. Next year will be different.
I’ve stated that I will not reply to SG and have kept that commitment for over a week now.
If anyone else would like to comment on what I said, I will be glad to respond.
Just so you all know, if Gonzaga was a good team this year, Lunardi wouldn’t have them in his “first four out” at this point in the season.
Umm…they are good in the WCC. And what is this childish nonsense about not responding. Especially since it is always logical and not emotional 
I used the Haws mugging to say, don’t be suprised to see a no call on a mugging when it takes place on Monday. The history is certainly in place. They better come to play, is all I have to say. No hocus pocus, just focus, focus, focus. I made a funny. LOL
Jeff
if BYU can break 72 points, they will beat Gonzaga
Don’t remember who I was reading, but it was one of the journalists who covers Gonzaga regularly, who mentioned the ticky tacky fouls the refs were calling in the tournament. Not just in the Zags games, but in all four of the games on Saturday.
It is like the refs for the tournament season were all re-read the NCAA bullet points for refs to remember for the season and decided they’d strayed from the principles decided on last summer.
someone said that the WCC refs are also the P 12 refs.
Bill Walton did a 5 minute rant after the Az-Cal game or USC game and just blew up the poor reffing. He said, “This is not your moment, this is the players time…don’t ruin the game by calling touch fouls…Let the players play! You have slowed the game to a crawl calling attentions to yourselves and it is just disgusting.”
I hate big nose, bald guy and all the other wantabee crappy refs in the rec. league.
I’m watching the BYUSN and didn’t realize the wcc commissioner is a woman. Not being sexist or anything but… too much emotional attachment in decision making and I’m having a tough time understanding what she is trying to say. She claims that having Gonzaga as the perpetual champion is a great thing for the wcc yet claims that as the other teams “get better” and there is more parity in the league it helps with regard to multiple bids for the ncaa tourney. So what does that mean?
To me that basically says that they will continue to give Gonzaga the help they need to make it (as evidenced by the 17 straight years) and if they can find a way to get another team in they will do everything they can to make that happen as well. In other words, Gonzaga is the favored son and the rest can fight for scraps. If we think you have a chance, then we will do what we can to help you as well. Last year BYU beating Gonzaga at Spokane is the perfect example of this.
At this point in time, the league has to realize that St. Mary’s and Gonzaga give the wcc the best opportunity to have two bids. Accordingly, that is how things will go. If BYU beats Gonzaga tonight, that will upset the plan. The worst wcc scenario is for BYU to win it all, because then the wcc is a one bid league, that being BYU. I don’t see how the officials allow that to happen, hence BYU must play out of their minds in the next two games. I’m not sure that will happen.
So having said that, what might happen in the Pepperdine-St. Mary’s game? Pepperdine winning (they have beaten the Gaels both times this season so far) would be a bad thing… it eliminates St. Mary’s from a ncaa bid and eliminates the wcc from being a two bid conference. It’s kind of dicey because those teams that have a chance also have to play well enough so the officiating benefits them.
It will be interesting to see how it all goes down.
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After taking her message and logically reasoning as she would, you call her emotional. So, that would be a bit sexist.
What BYU must do is shoot out of their minds for 2 games. That would take the officials out of it. For this to happen, Rose must play the guard line deep. And the 2nd string has to play and shoot great too. KC needs to have triple doubles in both games and shoot well. Our bigs have to play smart and aggressive.
Reportedly BYU has won exactly ONE conference tournament in the past 24 years, so based on that statistic, in conjunction with what we already know about Gonzaga being the favored son, seriously… what are BYU’s chances of winning the wcc tournament this time? Let’s see… they lost the last two in the championship game to Gonzaga… by double digits. It will take nothing short of a small miracle for them to have any chance of winning.
For whatever reason, BYU just doesn’t do well when it comes to crunch time and having to win. There are a variety of factors and reasons for this phenomena… and we could discuss those reasons for a long time. I’ll just say that it involves more than not being the best team (they often are the best team) or not playing the best (they often play really well)…
We will see what happens tonight. We all know they CAN win but I don’t know if anybody believes they actually will.
I wish I’d heard Big Red’s comments, because I would have stood and cheered (former Trailblazer and all). That has been my refrain all year: officials with HUGE egos who are ruining college basketball. The constant touch fouls–particularly those off the ball–are simply ridiculous. Those are all “look at me” calls by the officials. I literally think they believe that they are the custodians of the game and are more important than the players or coaches who come and go. The refs completely hosed Sabonis with touch fouls the first time we played GU, and the screwing over of KC in the first half of the second game was epic. The refs know that two fouls in first half=bench and that they can influence/determine the outcome in any way they want. It is laughable how many touch fouls are called that have no impact on the game, yet three officials can stand there during a dead ball with 3.5 seconds left in the game and watch a GU defender literally wrap his arms completely around the WCC POY and not call it because it could potentially allow BYU to beat GU.
I think the difference tonight will be Wiltjer: he, more than any player in the league, is protected by the officials. Wiltjer, a shot blocker who plays in the post on D, has been called for a grand total of 55 fouls ALL SEASON–that’s the same as Seljaas, a backup guard who stands on the 3 point line most of the time, or Chase Fischer, who doesn’t foul at all because he never plays defense anyway. For sake of comparison, Kyle Davis, who is a much less physical defender than Wiltjer, has been called for 80 fouls. Nate Austin and Kaufusi are both physical and each has over 80 fouls in half the minutes that Wiltjer has played. So in a league where “touch fouls” are rampant, either Wiltjer is the Zags’ leading shot blocker and best interior defender but never touches an opposing player, or he gets special treatment. I guess people can draw their own conclusions but these statistics seem to back up the obvious “eye test.”
If he is hitting at all, I don’t see us beating them. Additionally, BYU is 221st in the NCAA in FT%, and GU is 20th, so everyone knows that if there are lots of touch fouls and lots of FTAs it plays right into GU’s hands.